No Images on My Card

I did a little bit of shooting in my backyard today. Now and then I checked my shots as I was shooting. When I got back in the house and mounted the card to my machine it had no images on it. I put the card back in my camera and the same, no images. Put it back in my machine again to see the size that the card had available and it says about 10gb. So there's about 6gb (minus overhead) left somewhere. I searched for invisible files and still nada.

To make sure it's not my card reader I put a different card in and it read that one fine.

This happened a while back and then later they appeared. Any clues why?

I don't think that they'll appear this time.

In case it matters it's a Lexar Pro, 400x, 16gb UDMA.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks for any help.

Well, it sounds like maybe your card could be corrupt.

What you want to do is do a search for image/photo recovery software. There are several out there, although I haven't used one in, gosh, a bunch of years so can't give you a name. Maybe some folks can chime in with names.

I'd get several, and keep trying until you find one that (hopefully) works. Different apps will give different results. Don't format the card until you either solve the problem or quit in disgust, and then, don't keep using that card, get a new one. If you want to keep that card, do a low-level format in your computer then keep it as a spare, not your main card!

Make sure that you have formatted the card in the camera. I usually format after every time it have been used. Just make sure the images are stored in a safe location before formatting

There are some free recovery applications and some "pay-for" ones. One I have is called Sandisk RescuePRO ($40), which is really easy to use. I also used PhotoRescue ($29). I don't like the interface as much, but the recovery results were the same.

Do a search on POTN as I recall some threads pointing to freeware applications. The ones I tried out also work, although sometimes setting them up or getting results is a bit more involved. Certainly if you only have a one time issue and don't want to spend $29-$40 the freeware approach will be the way to go

The only reason I have the pay for ones is because my daughter came back from a trip overseas and accidentally reformatted her SD card towards the end of her trip. NONE of the applications (free or pay-for ... and I tried all of the most popular ones) recovered anything since the silly kid kept shooting AFTER doing the format. I could only recover images she deleted after the format.

Thanks for the reply's. I did try several different trial wares and was only able to view images that I had saved to my HDD months ago. The other images, shot today, were too far corrupt to even view. Fortunately, this wasn't a pay shoot, but shots I sweated over trying to get even in my backyard. Chalk it up as experience as I did pick up a few things while shooting.

I got the card in February from Adorama, so it's still under warranty. Even though I reformatted it, I'll still be returning it for a replacement.

I see that ArcticShooter mentions, "format after every time it have been used". Is this normal practice? Since Feb I've only formatted it once, but not used this card all that much. I have another Lexar card, exactly the same, that I've used almost every day since Feb and never had a problem after the initial formatting. Should I consider cards just like HDD's, ...you never know?

Ynot wrote in post #14943908
Thanks for the reply's. I did try several different trial wares and was only able to view images that I had saved to my HDD months ago. The other images, shot today, were too far corrupt to even view. Fortunately, this wasn't a pay shoot, but shots I sweated over trying to get even in my backyard. Chalk it up as experience as I did pick up a few things while shooting.

I got the card in February from Adorama, so it's still under warranty. Even though I reformatted it, I'll still be returning it for a replacement.

I see that ArcticShooter mentions, "format after every time it have been used". Is this normal practice? Since Feb I've only formatted it once, but not used this card all that much. I have another Lexar card, exactly the same, that I've used almost every day since Feb and never had a problem after the initial formatting. Should I consider cards just like HDD's, ...you never know?

Hmm, how do you get away with not formatting your card? I Format my cards in-camera after every shoot!

But it sounds like you card is corrupt --get a new one, and get out and shoot!!

I format my cards "in camera" before every shoot. No issues with mine. I use Sandisk and Transcend